Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A. Ayyappan

A. Ayyappan (27 October 1949 - 21 October 2010) was a Malayalam poet in the modernist period. Born in a wealthy goldsmith's family, in Nemom, Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, he became a non-conformist member of reading Malayali families. He had a very tragic childhood. His father, Arumukham, died when he was only one year old, perhaps due to poison. He lost his mother, Muthammal, when he was 15. Ayyappan was supported by his sister Subbalakshmi and his brother-in-law V. Krishnan.

Ayyappan started writing poetry when he was a student. He became involved in the Communist Party and joined the staff of Janayugam, the party newspaper. Ayyappan is well known for his heart touching poems and his bohemian lifestyle. He can also be considered as the last remaining icon of anarchism in Kerala. He was a close friend of the late filmmaker John Abraham. Ayyappan is also famous as a great lover of sunlight ('veyil' by malayalam language) and a passionate adherent of Communism.

"Though a bohemian in the tradition of P. Kunhiraman Nair, Malayalam's celebrated poet of yesteryear, Ayyappan was amazingly rigorous in his poetic expression. Often, the street was his home, for homes seldom welcomed the poet in. But few writers in these times can claim to have had so vast a circle of loving and adoring friends, a large majority of them young men and women.

He won the Asan Puraskaram (Asan Poetry Prize),[3] one of the highest literary awards in Malayalam literature, for the year 2010. Ayyappan was also a recipient of Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award in 1999.

Death

His body was found abandoned in the streets of Thampanoor, Thiruvanathapuram on 21 October 2010. Without recognising the poet, police took his body to General Hospital. His body was kept in hospital mortuary without anybody recognizing who he was and later identified by noon on 22 October 2010.[2][4] He was on his way to Chennai to accept the Asan Puraskaram on Saturday, 23 October 2010.[5] According to other news papers like "Gulf News", "Gulf Times", "The Times of India", "Hariyana News"and "Indian Express", he passed away in a local general hospital after being found unconscious at a roadside.